HISTORY

Quorthon (vo, gu), Kothaar (ba), Vvornth (dr) (1984)
The Swedish band Bathory (they got the name Bathory from an "authentic" sixteenth century vampire, Countess Elizabeth Bathory. "Countess Bathory" is also the name of a {Venom} song from 1982) hit the world in 1984 with the release of their self-titled debut album. This album was (at that time) quite possibly the most brutal album ever released in the Heavy Metal genre, and Bathory took Black Metal one step further than earlier bands like {Venom} had dared to do. Expecially on the firs talbum, Bathory seemed to be heavily influenced by the aforementioned Venom, and it's surprising then that Quorthon claimed to never have heard them before. In 1985 Bathory released their second album, The Return, and this time they had taken their brutal and filthy sound one step further, leaving most other Death Metal bands far behind, wondering what hit them.
Playing faster not really being an alternative, their third (Under the Sign of the Black Mark, 1987) and fourth (Blood Fire Death, 1988, their last album of the '80s) efforts saw the band developing a more personal style with more room for moods and melodies. Calling them "melodic", however, would be the exaggeration of the century; they were still extremely heavy, featuring guitars distorted to the border of being plain noise and Quorthons unmistakeable dark, demon-like voice. By this time, Bathory had turned from a more traditional Black Metal band into a more nuanced band, heavily influenced by Viking lore and Nordic imagery.
It is almost impossible to describe the music of Bathory, partly because they evolved quite a lot from their first album to the end of the eighties and partly because their unlikely sound was so unlike anything else. First of all the sound quality of the recordings, at least on the first albums, was (apparently deliberately) absolute crap. Secondly, the guitars were so distorted you almost wondered if there was something wrong with your speakers, and finally Quorthons singing sounded like the voice of Satan himself.
There were quite a lot of rumours surrounding Bathory, some of them at least partially true, probably stemming from the fact that they preferred to stay away from public appearances.
Rumours included:

·          That Bathory's first record appearance (on the compilation Scandinavian Metal Attack) was a pure coincidence after another band had dropped out.

·          That Quorthon's father was the owner of Black Mark records, which may of course have aided in getting a record deal.

·          That Quorthon was in fact the sole memeber of Bathory and played all the instruments himself. This was as least true insomuch that he wrote all songs and replaced the other musicians very often.

·          That well-known video producer Jonas Åkerlund (who has worked with {Metallica}, Madonna, The Cardigans, The Prodigy etc.) once was the drummer in Bathory. This would pretty much rule out the rumour above...

·          That Bathory had made a vow never to perform live.

·          That Quorton was working on a full length video that would feature the music of Bathory.

·          That Quorthon came up with his unique singing style one day while rehersing, when the mike suddenly broke and he discovered that singing through a guitar mike connected to a dist box didn't sound half bad...

 

INTERNET

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ALBUM

1984

OMONIMO

1°

 

 

TYFON/BLACK MARK

1985

THE RETURN

2°

 

REVELATION OF DOOM, TOTAL DESTRUCTION, BORN FOR BURNING, THE WIND OF MAYHEM, BESTIAL LUST, POSSESSED, THE RITE OF DARKNESS, REAP OF EVIL, SON OF THE DAMNED, SADIST, THE RETURN OF THE DARKNESS AND EVIL

TYFON/BLACK MARK

1986

UNDER THE SIGN OF THE BLACK MARK

3°

 

 

BLACK MARK

1988

BLOOD,FIRE,DEATH

4°

 

 

BLACK MARK

1989

HAMMERHEART

5°

 

SHORES IN FLAMES 11.10, VALHALLA 9.32, BAPTISED IN FIRE AND ICE 7.58, FATHER TO SON 6.31, SONG TO HALL UP HIGH 2.30,  HOME OF ONCE BRAVE 6.44, ONE RODE TO ASA BAY 10.25.

BLACK MARK

1991

TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

6°

 

TWILIGHT OF  THE GODS, THROUGH BLOOD BY THUNDER, BLOOD AND IRON, UNDER THE RUNES, TO ENTER YOUR MOUNTAIN, BOND OF BLOOD, HAMMERHEART.

BLACK MARK

1992

JUBILEUM VOL.1

COMPILATION

 

 

BLACK MARK

1993

JUBILEUM VOL.2

COMPILATION

 

 

BLACK MARK

1994

REQUIEM

7°

 

 

BLACK MARK

1995

OCTAGON

8°

 

 

BLACK MARK

1996

BLOOD ON ICE

9°

 

 

BLACK MARK

1998

JUBILEUM VOL.3

COMPILATION

 

 

BLACK MARK

2001

DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD

10°

 

 

BLACK MARK

 

NATION

GENRE

SVEZIA

BLACK/EPIC METAL

 

BAND

 

?

ALBUM

OTHER BAND
VOCALS

QUORTHON

ALL

QUORTHON

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 

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